Grain-winnowing machine



BEAN & WRIGHT.

Grain Winnower.

sses.

N. FEI'ERS, wmho mr, Washin ton, D. c

UNITED STATES PATEN T @FFTQE.

JOHN B AN AND RENJN. \VllIGl-IT, 0F HUDSON, MICHIGAN.

GRAIN-WINNOWING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 29,283, dated July 24, 1860.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN BEAN and BENJAMIN \VRIGHT, of Hudson, in thecounty of Lenawee and State of Michigan, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in the Construction of Vinnowing-Machines, of whichthe following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, andin which- Figure 1 represents a vertical longitudinal section of a grainwinnowing machine, constructed on our improved plan, and Fig. 2 a sideelevation of the same showing the arrangement of the driving oroperative parts.

The nature of our invention consists in combining with a distributingsieve a series in any suitbale manner.

E, is the hopper; it is mounted over the rear end of the casing, A, andconsists of a quadrangular frame, into which is made to fit, in suitablegrooves made for that purpose, an inclined slide, a, the lower edge ofwhich may be scalloped. To the under and rear side of the frame of thehopper is hinged the plate, I), which has its lower edge bent upward, asshown in F ig. 1. It (plate 6) is provided at its rear end with a boltor pin, 0, projecting downward and sunk into a block, (Z, which issecured to the rear end of the sieve frame. This bolt or pin allows thehinged plate to swing but to a certain extent; when the sieve frameslides back it (the hinged plate) attains its lowest depression, andwhile the said frame slides forward, the hinged plate is caused tovibrate upward, and so on alternately. The plate, I), is so constructedand arranged that, even in its lowest position, the upturned edge shouldpresent a sufficient bar to prevent the grain from sliding 0E.

The sliding frame which supports the sieves consists of two side beams,F, braced in rear by a connecting piece, and in front by the shoe, G.This frame is held at the desired inclination by its front end beingmade to rest upon rollers or pins, 6, (and which may be so arranged asto be adjustable at various heights) and having at its rear end aspring, 7, which is loosely connected or secured to the upper end of theeasing of the machine.

The desired reciprocating motion is communicated to the sieve frame bymeans of an arm, h, with which the rocking lever, H, is provided, saidarmand which is made to play through a slot formed for its reception inthe casing of the maohinebeing at its other end secured to a side beam,F, of the sieve frame.

I, is the distributor, which consists of a wire gauze with large sizedmeshes, and is secured to the upper side of the sieve frame, immediatelybeneath the hopper. Underneath are arranged the sieves, 7c, Z2, in thisinstance three in number, which are supported in grooves, formed fortheir reception in the side pieces, F. The lower one of these sievesextends clear to the rear end of the sieve frame, while the upper onesare made successively shorter; and their inner ends are bent or turnedupward close to the wire gauze as shown in Fig. 1. These sieves whichmay be made of zinc or any other suitable material, punched with anumber of holes of sufficient size to allow wheat, &c., to passthroughhave a solid rim or border at their lower end, to prevent oats orother foreign particles from falling inside of the machine.

L, is the riddle frame, it is supported on the rollers, g, and the frontend of said frame is made to pass over the standard M, erected on theshoe, G, said standard being provided with a number of verticallyarranged holes, for the reception of a pin, 71, by means of whicharrangement the elevation of the front end of the riddle may beregulated as desired. As the sides of the riddle frame are providedbolts or pins, Z, projecting downward; the said bolts being so arrangedin relation to the rollers, 9, that when the riddle slides forward, thebolts shall strike against the rollers, whereby a jerking or jumpingmovement will be imparted to the riddle, in such manner as to throw itsupper and free end upward for a purpose to be hereafter more fullydescribed. The standard, M, is made to pass also through a slot formedin the front end of the frame of the screen, N, arranged below theriddle, and which screen is made to incline downward and is supported atits lower and inner end by the rocking shaft, 0. Said shaft communicatesa rapid vibratory motion to the screen, whereby the grain which passesdown from the riddle is prevented from clogging up the meshes of saidscreen. To the under side of the rocking shaft, 0, is secured an arm, m,provided with holes for the reception of the hook of a connecting rod,7, by means of which motion is to be communicated to the lower slidingscreen, K. The rocking shaft is operated by the rocking lever, H,through the crank, P, and connecting rod, P, and the rocking lever, H,receives its motion from the shaft, D, by means of the connecting rod,R, and crank, R.

Having first properly adjusted the scalloped slide of the hopper, so asto regulate the feed of the grain, and having placed the riddle at thedesired inclination, the operation is as follows: On motion beingcommunicated to the shaft, D, its fans induce a strong blast of airinside of the machine; and the crank, R, which is mounted on said shaft,imparts, by means of the connecting rod, R, the desired rocking motionto the lever, H, which in its turn communicates to the sieve frame areciprocating sliding motion, by means of the arm, h, and to the shaft,0, a rocking motion by means of the connecting rod, P, and crank, P.

By the sliding of the sieve frame a rapid shaking motion being in itsturn imparted to the hinged plate of the hopper, each time that saidplate recedes from the adjustable slide or shutter, a certain quantityof grain is allowed to drop. By the vibration of the distributor thefalling grain becomes spread out in a horizontal plane, and therebyequally distributed on the various sieves, which form, as it were,separate compartments below of the distributorThe grain passes thenthrough the holes in the sieves, while larger particles are led downwardover the surface of the inclined sieves, and carried off at the frontend of the machine. The grain which passes then on the riddle,

is freed there from chafi and other impurities by the blast of aircoming from the fans, the jerking or jumping motion of theriddle-induced by its projecting pins striking against the rollers onwhich the riddle rests-causing the light particles, as they fall on theriddle, to be thrown up and thereby more fully exposed to the blast ofair, which impels them forward, and off at the front end of the machine.

From the riddle the grain falls on the screen which has a slidingreciprocating motion in common with the other parts as are mounted onthe shoe, G,-The meshes of the screen are sufficiently large to allowsmall impurities to pass through, while the grain slides down on thescreen toward the rear of the machine-but in order to prevent the smallgrain from clogging the meshes of screen, the latter has in addition toits sliding motion, a quick and irregular vibrating motion communicatedby means of the rocking shaft on which said screen rests.

The small grain, &c., which has passed through the meshes of the screen,falls upon the bottom plate of said screen, and is car ried a certaindistance back; where it is allowed to fall upon the lower screen towhich a sliding motion is communicated by means of the arm whichconnects with the rocking shaft. The large grain is discharged from theupper screen, underneath the fanscasing; and the small grain from thelower screen, near the front end of the machine.

Having thus described our improvements in grain winnowing machines whatwe claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of a distributor I, with the sieves K, K, K, when saidsieves are arranged, in relation to said distributor as set forth; forthe purpose of equally distributing the grain as it is supplied from thehopper.

In testimony whereof we hereunto set our hands to this specification.

JOHN BEAN. BENJAMIN WRIGHT. Witnesses:

J. B. FARNAM, LORENZO PALMER.

